Why Mitt Romney’s Medicaid Cuts Are Even More Draconian Than Paul Ryan’s

Medicaid, which is funded jointly by the states and the federal government, provides health coverage to approximately 53 million lower income Americans. The federal government matches state spending on a per-claim basis and pays a percentage of each state’s Medicaid costs (anywhere between 50 and 75 percent). Conservatives like House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and the GOP presidential contenders have proposed reducing the federal government’s commitment to the program by block granting Medicaid and paying states pre-established grants that may not reflect actual costs. The reduction in federal spending would require states to either appropriate additional funding towards Medicaid or lower program expenditures by cutting provider payment rates, limiting eligibility, and reducing benefits, the CBO has concluded.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) has endorsed Ryan’s block grant proposal, and yesterday, during a radio interview with Sean Hannity, he revealed that his cuts to Medicaid could be even more draconian than Ryan’s.

Ryan already aims to shrink the federal government’s contribution to Medicaid by 35 percent in 2022, converting the existing federal matching rate for each state into a block grant and growing the grant by approximately 3 percent annually (as compared to the estimated 6.5 percent to 7 percent annual growth* in federal expenditures that would occur under current law). Romney told Hannity that he would grow his Medicaid block grants by just 1 to 2 percent per year […]

…snip…

Comparatively, Romney’s reductions would result in even steeper cuts that would affect tens of millions of low-income Medicaid beneficiaries — seniors in nursing homes, people with disabilities, children — for whom the program has become a critical source of coverage. A very rough back-of-the envelope calculation using the CBO’s projected federal Medicaid expenditures for 2012 as a baseline (and then growing that number by 1.5 percent annually through 2021) demonstrates the sheer magnitude of Rommey’s cuts as compared to current law and Ryan’s plan. The results show that Romney could reduce the size of the program by more than 40 percent over that period […]

(Audio and charts at THINK PROGRESSHEALTH link)
And just so you kids don’t have to squint:

thanks, frank. i’ve been feeling really crappy lately, and i almost didn’t even do a poster. last night, i saw the story at think progress, and i immediately knew i wanted to do a munsters poster. it was kind of a rush job, but it was fun deciding what to put in the background.

wait until you hear this, wken! a libertarian professor argues that <economic inequality is a wonderful thing! he misses the entire point that people aren’t pissed that there are rich people. they’re pissed, because the playing field is so uneven.

“during a radio interview with Sean Hannity, he revealed that his cuts to Medicaid could be even more draconian than Ryan’s”

Yes, it’s become a contest to see who can care the least about those in need. I suppose they won’t be done until they decide to balance the budget by selling the homeless and unemployed into indentured servitude.

it’s just so disgusting, wken. the teabaggers who vote in primaries won’t be happy until a candidate actually pulls the plug on a patient with no insurance and executes a prisoner onstage. extra credit for the one who personally attacks a gay soldier.

the irony is that most of these rethuglican asswipes wouldn’t even have jobs if not for political favors being repaid or family connections. where would chimpy have worked if not for poppy? who would have hired him? how about ben quayle? was anyone banging at his door? where would frothy santorum be employed right now if he wasn’t being paid back for the votes he cast at the instructions of lobbyists when he was in the senate?

i’ve used the vampire theme a couple of times before. it’s fitting, because the rethugs are such bloodsuckers.

i would bet that there are rethugs (looking at you, deadeye dick) who would jump at the chance to hunt down some convicts down at n******head ranch. it’s so sickening, but it’s true.

most of these numbnuts wouldn’t have the guts to actually face a veteran of any sexual orientation who didn’t agree with them. can you imagine any rethug who would have guts enough to face shamar thomas, the vet who faced down the cops in nyc and told them what honor really is?

Bah! These guys talk big in front of cameras and with their staff-written speeches.

To someone who’s really had to do something difficult, they’d be nothing. Facing a real vet, I’ll bet that half of these jokers couldn’t accomplish much more than wetting themselves.

George H. W. Bush was no genius, but at least he knew what it meant to serve in the military, being a WWII vet and all. Of course, the hard right thought he was too much of a wuss because he “didn’t finish the job” in Iraq. So, his son, who valiantly defended the Texas front during the Vietnam War, dragged us back to Iraq … 8+ years ago.

widdle ewic cantaw was scared to give a speech to an audience that might include some participants from occupy philly. i don’t think he could face a cockroach in his kitchen late at night if there were not some big strong guys around to kill it for him. he’d scream like a little girl.

I know it’s not the main point of your post, but I love, love, LOVE the vampire elephant. I am going to send it to my wife – she has a weak spot for elephants (NO JOKES ABOUT ME!!!), and might want to forward it on, if that would be okay?
Great poster, great post.

isn’t he cute, john? he was a very last minute addition. since he was just in black and white and in the background, i didn’t bling him out too much. then i decided to post a color version, and now i’m regretting that i didn’t add a bit more pizzazz. then again, maybe less is more. in any case, feel free to send it to your wife. that would make me very happy. :)

Very funny poster! Got a good laugh out of the product placement. None of these fools are going to do anything. We either get on the ball about national health or we enter the phase where we start hitching up a horse to pull our car. Serfs up!! …Last night the lady reporter from Sac/news13 got gassed doing live TV of the Oakland police riot….we just had a 4.8 quake at Truckee…best description heard today of the investor bunch: “People that rub money together”.

of course they’re not going to do anything. they all get way too much money from the insurance companies and big pharma. unless, of course, people start rioting in the streets. oh, wait, they are! :wink:

And we have to ask: If the Goperites ruled the country and a large group of disenfanchised gathered together, like in the Hoovervilles, to ask for a redress of grevances….Q?…would the republicans run tanks in on them? Oh wait, they already did.

when i saw what happened in oakland, my mind immediately went to kent state, and i shuddered. the sad thing is that democratic mayors are doing what rethuglicans would do. i want to know what good having freedom of speech is if nobody can hear you.

States are already defunding Medicaid services because they’re running out of money – so their plan is even more draconian than draconian. It’s incredible how some of these conservatives can sweep the poor under the rug like just so many dust particles.

me, too, ahab. there are people who think they’re invincible and won’t need a safety net. those people are sorely surprised when they lose their job, get very ill, or find out their 401Ks were wiped out by greedy bankers.

Thank you for the “squintless” additions — I use a laptop and often can’t appreciate all those little gems in your posters… as far as Mittsy, let’s hope he wins the nomination,loses the election, and is banished from politics forevah!